In my first blog I described how Cisco IT is interconnecting our outsourced Contact Centers using SIP trunks, replacing the more costly (and less effective) PSTN trunks. In our first round of SIP trunk deployments we expect to save almost 25% of our current contact center calling costs (or $2M per year). But there were other, less tangible benefits as well.Because the SIP trunk can carry voice and data, we also offer our vendors controlled extranet access back to Cisco. This means that we can give these call center agents access to the corporate tools they need to perform more complex tasks for Cisco, while securely protecting our network and intellectual property. It also makes life easier for Cisco.

Today, due to intelligent vendor selection and using a consolidated vendor strategy we now have four different Cisco support organizations being serviced at one vendor location. These four organizations now share these new single IP links, offering Cisco support both value for money and a streamlined relationship with our contact center vendor. This was a big step up from having multiple vendors supporting different parts of the business with different network connections, and different contractual terms and conditions so it is a win win situation for all.

In our second, planned round of further interconnections via SIP trunking, we will be consolidating our contact centers for even more savings. In that phase we expect to consolidate calls with fewer global vendors which will again improve our service to our customers while reducing our vendor spend, yielding an additional $1 million in annual savings.

Looking to the near future, this robust network design will enable us to implement “parent-child” integration between our UCCE and the vendor’s Cisco UCCE systems regardless of vendor location. The benefits here are clear as this approach enables true global enterprise call sharing, simplified global call routing administration and configuration inside Cisco. We will also be delivering detailed and accurate call reporting (using our CUIC Reporting and Dashboard solution ) overall, facilitating better management and utilization of your vendor resources. Importantly, this in turn offers the best possible service to our customers by automatically routing calls that require specialized handling to the first available agent with the right skill set, no matter the time or where the vendor contact center is located.

Critically, as we are all aware, when handling customer calls any impact to this service can be costly and negative for your business therefore, by utilizing the Cisco Unified Border Element this gives us the sound peace of mind that our calls are getting through to the right agent, at the right time and at the right location whilst saving valuable IT expenditure at the same time.

We'd love to hear from you! To earn points and badges for participating in the conversation, join Cisco Social Rewards. Your comment(s) will appear instantly on the live site. Spam, promotional and derogatory comments will be removed.

Some of the individuals posting to this site, including the moderators, work for Cisco Systems. Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of Cisco. The content is provided for informational purposes only and is not meant to be an endorsement or representation by Cisco or any other party. This site is available to the public. No information you consider confidential should be posted to this site. By posting you agree to be solely responsible for the content of all information you contribute, link to, or otherwise upload to the Website and release Cisco from any liability related to your use of the Website. You also grant to Cisco a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free and fully-paid, transferable (including rights to sublicense) right to exercise all copyright, publicity, and moral rights with respect to any original content you provide. The comments are moderated. Comments will appear as soon as they are approved by the moderator.